Batman, Captain America rescue cat from burning home

A former firefighter in a Batman costume dashes inside the house to rescue the lucky feline and then resuscitates it.

Residents of Milton, W.Va, witnessed a scene from a comic book on Saturday when Captain America broke the window of a burning house and Batman dashed inside to rescue a trapped feline.

"We were at the American Legion doing an event for the vets and the children in the community," John Buckland, who was dressed as Batman, told WSAZ. "The vets came over, said they saw some smoke, thought it was trash."

Buckland, a former firefighter, knew from the color of the smoke that it wasn’t trash, so he and Troy Marcum, who was wearing a Captain America costume, went to investigate.

They rushed inside the house to see if anyone was trapped, but only made it partway inside because of the smoke.

Buckland instructed Marcum to find a rock and break a window to let some of the smoke out of the house. Then he rushed back in and felt around, searching for anyone — or anything — trapped inside.

When he felt something furry, he grabbed it and carried it out of the house.

"I don't care what it is. I don't care if it's a Chia pet. It's coming out," Buckland said. "So I grab it, run out the door with it, put it in the yard…and I'll be if it wasn't a cat."

The feline wasn’t moving, so Buckland began giving it mouth-to-mouth breaths to displace the smoke it had inhaled.

When the cat came to, Buckland said it "freaked out" and started hissing.

"It was actually pretty funny though, cause you had the whole Batman, Catwoman thing playing, you know?" he said.

When emergency responders arrived, they instructed Buckland to remove his mask so they could give him oxygen, and afterward, Buckland made onlookers promise to keep his identity a secret.

Buckland and Marcum participate in a program that teaches kids to look for opportunities to make a difference everywhere they go.

Although he was dressed as a superhero, Buckland said he isn’t a hero — he was just in the right place at the right time.

"I don't think we did anything anybody else wouldn't have done. Fortunately, I had some really cool clothes on to do it with, and it actually helped cause the heat really didn't get to me that bad."

Firefighters attributed the house fire to electrical problems and said no one else was in the home at the time of the fire.

While the rescued kitty may have used up one its nine lives, she’s alive and well thanks to Batman and Captain America.